Charles Mingus, as remembered by Nat Hentoff. "Every once in a while, when I was at home, the phone would ring and I'd be jolted by music until he came on. 'What do you think of that?' he would ask. 'I just wrote it.'"

Eric Essix, Alabama-based guitarist, gets a local paper profile. I don't know Essix's music but there's something about this story which feels like it could apply to thousands of other highly-competent, middle-class musicians — and that's why I thought it was interesting to share, really.